Looking Forward to the 2009
Annual Meeting in San Francisco

Bringing Communities
Back In?
Setting a New
Policy Agenda

The Obama administration has signaled its desire to make science more central to its public policy decision-making process. And, in March, the nearly $800-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by Obama infused the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) with about $13 billion over a two-year period to fund basic research. Since then, ASA has provided ongoing updates (at www.asanet.org/cs/root/leftnav/advocacy/research_funding_available_from_nih) for researchers interested in applying for this funding.

Kathleen S. Lowney to Edit Teaching Sociology

The incoming editor of Teaching Sociology, Kathleen S. Lowney, will continue the journal’s strong leadership in the scholarship of teaching and learning—for our profession and for the larger academy. Lowney believes that good teaching comes from an engaged teacher/facilitator encouraging students to be actively involved with materials, ideas, and each other. A great class is created in part with much self-reflection by the teacher and then thoughtful calibration of technology, supportive learning materials, and assignments that captivate students’ interest. What happens in a classroom can sometimes seem like alchemy, but it needs to be alchemy informed by the latest in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

News from
ASA’s Research Department

As the current economic recession affects faculty hiring in higher education, disciplinary associations such as the American Historical Association and Modern Language Association (MLA) have reported declining numbers of jobs for PhDs advertised at their meetings or on the websites. As a result of what they refer to as "turmoil in financial markets" and "what appears to be a non-trivial economic downturn," the American Economics Association has asked employers who have listed positions in JOE (Job Opportunities for Economists) to announce any suspension or cancellation of listed jobs. Between August and December 2008, more than 50 jobs were cancelled, according to the list of announcements.